Kezia Dugdale Is New Leader Of Scottish Labour

SCOTTISH Labour should not be afraid of opening up a debate on Trident nuclear weapons, the party’s newly-elected leader has said.

The party’s new deputy will also be announced, with Richard Baker, Alex Rowley and Gordon Matheson vying for the role.

The Scottish Labour contest followed the resignation of Jim Murphy in June after the party lost all but one of its 41 seats in May’s general election.

At an event announcing the result from Stirling, Dugdale said: “I know that the past few months have been incredibly hard for Labour members across the country”.

She declined to say which of the four UK Labour leadership contenders she would vote for but said she would be “delighted” to work with any of them.

Labour have instead chosen to carp from the side lines, while both at Holyrood and Westminster they have made common cause with the Tories on issues such as welfare cuts, the renewal of Trident, and on blocking substantial new powers for Scotland.

But not even the most loyal Labour lieutenant heaping congratulations and plaudits on Kezia Dugdale yesterday after her victory against Ken Macintosh believes she can become first minister in the foreseeable future. I want to make it even better.

“Take another look at the Scottish Labour Party, ” she said.

The Lothians MSP refused to be drawn on which of the UK Labour leadership contenders she supported.

I want to transform this country so that the life chances of a child born today aren’t determined by how much money their parents earn but by their potential, their work ethic and their ambition.

Harriet Harman, interim leader of the Labour Party, congratulated Ms Dugdale and Mr Rowley.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND – MARCH 07: Ed Milliband leader of the Labour Party takes applause with his deputy Kezia Dugdale, following his addresses to the Scottish Labour Party conference on March 7, 2015 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Ms Dugdale had previously said the party would be left “carping on the sidelines” if Mr Corbyn were to win, before backtracking and insisting their politics were not “wildly different”. I think the way to do that is together on a multilateral basis.

In June that year she was appointed to Labour’s Holyrood front bench as the party’s education spokeswoman.

Ms Dugdale is the sixth person to lead the party in the last eight years, Mr Mackay said.

Ms Dugdale promised in her acceptance speech to work “night and day” to restore her party’s popularity in Scotland – and declared they were “down but not out”.